SMARTPHONE STUPIDITY

Using a smartphone to text offensive jokes or to text derogatory remarks about someone is stupid, really stupid!

Using a smartphone to exchange text messages and emails between friends or coworkers or to post messages on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites can have serious consequences if the content may be offensive to someone or to a group..

While jokes about blacks, Jews, Queers, dumb Mexicans and dumb Pollocks are funny to many people, they can be very offensive to blacks, Jews, Homosexuals, Mexicans and Poles. The same holds true for other racial, ethnic and religious jokes. And while blacks often call each other "nigger," contemporary society has strictly verboten the use of the 'N' word by non-blacks. Although most police agencies have banned the exchange or use of offensive materials and the use of the 'N' word, many cops continue to do so despite facing severe discipline,, including termination, if caught.. It’s the same as with criminals, the offending cops do not think they will get caught.

Michael Robison, Noel Schwab, Rain Daugherty and Michael Celis are all San Francisco police officers with from 15 to 23 years on the force. They may soon be fired. What did they do to flush their careers down the shitter? They exchanged racist and homophobic text messages among themselves and with former SFPD Sgt. Ian Furminger.

The racist and homophobic text messages came to light during Furminger’s recent trial on federal corruption charges. Following his conviction, federal authorities turned those messages over to SFPD. San Francisco prosecutors then announce they would have to review every case Robison, Schwab, Daugherty, Celis and Furminger worked on. They will look for any signs that arrests and investigations were compromised by the officers because of their prejudices.

The four cops have been taken off any assignments involving contact with the public. Even though the text messages were sent back in 2011 and 2012, police Chief Greg Suhr said Saturday that he wants to fire those responsible for the messages once the investigation into their conduct has been completed.”. Suhr said, “It makes me sick to my stomach to even have these guys around.”

Jason Holding, James Wells, Christopher Sousa and Alex Alvarez are all former Ft. Lauderdale, Florida police officers. Holding, Wells and Sousa were fired Friday after the completion of a five-month internal affairs investigation. Alvarez resigned earlier during the investigation.

What did FLPD internal affairs investigate? Racist text messages sent by the four. Alvarez also created a racist and homophobic video which, according to police Chief Frank Adderley, contained derogatory images of President Obama and racist comments about Hispanics and homosexuals. The investigation started when Alvarez’s pissed-off ex-fiancée went to the police and told them about the video.

Chief Adderley told a press conference Friday that the text messages and the video were "inexcusable." He said, "There is zero tolerance for the type of behavior within the Fort Lauderdale Police Department"

According to WTVJ-TV, reported that the officers claimed they were only kidding when the sent the materials to each other. And Chief Adderley said, "Based on the investigation, they felt, in their words, that it was a joke."

Cops and everyone else has been warned time after time that anything texted or posted on the internet can be retrieved later by a third party and used against both the sender and the recipient. Some employers check the internet for any information on a job applicant. Something the applicant may have texted or posted years ago may keep him from getting hired.

In the case of cops, defense attorneys now always check the internet for any information that will discredit an officer before a jury. But cops continue to exchange joke that are seen as racist. They continue to exchange derogatory texts about the department’s brass or about politicians, including the President. They continue to exchange pictures of naked women, sometimes even pornography.

Why do they keep doing this with their smart phones in the face of warnings about the serious consequences that could arise therefrom? Cops should know better than anyone that there are no secrets. A Hells Angels member once said, “The only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead!” He might as well have said the only way two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead. When cops keep engaging in smartphone stupidity, they are being stupid, really stupid!

I should add that it’s not only the use of smartphones that can get a person in trouble. There are also computers and tablets. Some of the blogs I’ve posted can be used against me even though I’ve been retired for years. I am sure that I am on some government shit lists for some of the derogatory things I've said about President Obama and Attorney General Holder. So like many others, I am stupid for doing something that may very well be used against me in one fashion or another.